The usage environment for the alkaline fuel cell is alkaline-environment and is not a strong acidic environment unlike the proton-exchange membrane fuel cell. Accordingly, catalyst materials are unlikely to be corroded. Thus, the alkaline fuel cell has an advantage that it can use a nonnoble metal catalyst (such as Fe, Co, and Ni) therein. In the alkaline fuel cell, it is necessary to finely-dispersing the catalytic metal in nano-size and to stabilize them to enhance the catalyst characteristics.
Patent Document 1 discloses a method which comprises steps of: preparing a solution containing an organometallic compound mixed into a nitrogen-containing polymer (such as polyacrylonitrile); producing an organic metal-containing polymer fiber by an electro spinning process; and further, burning the fiber and producing a carbon nanofiber supporting a metal fine particle. In this method, it is possible to obtain a carbon nanofiber supporting a metal fine particle which has the metal fine particles supported in high dispersion. Further, the Patent Document 1 discloses that it is possible to use the obtained carbon nanofiber supporting a metal fine particle for a fuel cell.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2007-515364    Patent Document 2: WO 2005/028719